Funny and Scary in Contemporary Children's Subculture

Romanova A.L., Educational psychologist at the scientific and methodical centre of Toys and Play, Moscow, Russia, sasharomasha@gmail.comSmirnova E.O., Doctor in Psychology, Head of the Center for Psychological and Pedagogical Expertise of Play and Toys, Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russia, smirneo@mail.ru

The paper reviews the relationship between laughter and fear as the specific characteristics of childhood. The authors further develop Bakhtin's idea of the psychological foundation of laughter that enables conventional, playrelated and, therefore, safe breaking of social norms. They also reflect on the attractiveness of 'scary things' for a child and on the forms of provoking fear that exist in children's subculture. The paper analyzes the
relationship between funny and scary things in children's books, focusing on the phenomenon of black humor as a means of coping with fear. The final part of the paper describes contemporary tendencies in children's subculture in which 'the scary' is initially depreciated, and laughter does not become the means of handling fear.